


Rites of Spring

by Aspidities



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alpha Kara Danvers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, F/F, Mating, Mating Rituals, Omega Lena Luthor, fictional historical au, inspired by mayday fertility festivals, lots of medieval patriarchy in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:47:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23431915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aspidities/pseuds/Aspidities
Summary: Like the budding of new growth, every spring needs fresh blood.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 30
Kudos: 1211





	Rites of Spring

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Spring! Does your town encourage a bunch of strangers to have sex with each other in the woods to start the new season? No? Anyone? 
> 
> Well, in this town they do. Don’t kink shame. 
> 
> Also don’t trample the flowers while you’re plowing.

The morning dawned clear and cold, and the grey mist settled on the hilltop as the alphas came, one by one, to wait for the festival to begin. 

“Awfully chilly for spring.” Alex complained sourly, hunching inside her overcoat. 

Kara only snorted. She was busy watching ice recede from the muddy tracks they’d left in the field. Behind them, a coterie of alphas led by Ben Lockwood we’re struggling up the hill, and their breath puffed in the air like the spouting of whales.  _ They won’t last the run.  _ Kara surmised, and pleased at her assessment, turned back to Alex, jogging a little to catch up to the last of her steps. 

They crested the hill. Below them, the valley forest stretched, vast thickets of elm, ash, oak. The traditional May Day poles stretched over the meadow, tall as trees, with ribbons strung between them to make an archway. The mist hung on the ribbons, making them droop, but they were still nice to look at. Kara wondered briefly if Eliza had made some of them this year, but her attention was distracted by a low whistle. 

“Look at this.” Morgan Edge was a swaggering braggart even on the best of days, so this was no exception, but Kara still hackled at his tone. “Did the proctor think we’d need some extra mud this year or is the Danvers family just naturally filthy?”

Alex growled, showing teeth, and started to square up, but Kara backed her down with a palm to her chest. “Shove off, Edge. Blow smoke at the fire.”

Edge looked her up and down with a smug expression plastered on his handsome face. Behind him, his valet tittered obnoxiously. Kara could feel Alex’s low rumble under her hand, but she held firm, lifting her chin to the taller alpha. His grin was ugly and triumphant. 

“You’ve got some grit, mutt, I’ll give you that. But you’re outmatched today. This hunt is for real alphas.  _ Thoroughbreds _ .” 

Kara squinted at him, considered her options briefly, and then spat at his feet, right in between the bright leather of his boots. “If you’re the prime example of the breed, I’m all for miscegenation.”

Edge blinked in slow, stupid surprise. It was lovely to watch, until he finally realized he’d been insulted. Then he snarled, and his jaw set and the valet squared up behind him, ready for a tumble. Kara let off Alex’s chest and stood to her full height, ready to spend her morning knocking a pair of fine fools down a hill, until a horn sounded off to her right, and her ears perked up. 

J’onn Johnson appeared not long after that. His cheeks were flushed from jogging up the hill, and he was breathing hard. “No fighting until the hunt begins!” He shouted. “Disperse, all of you!”

Grumbling, Edge and his lackey moved off. Alex and Kara watched them go, dispassionately, but put their fists down. Alex hawked and spat, and Edge looked like he wanted to say something, but he daren’t in front of J’onn. Instead he only smiled, thin and mean, and sauntered away into the crowd. 

“That’s a bad lot.” J’onn warned them, when he drew closer. His breath had returned. “Edge’d be happy to see you both disqualified before ever trying to face either of you afield. See that you don’t give him that chance.”

“He’s only to face one of us, anyway, sir.” Kara tugged on her forelock respectfully, but shouldered Alex forward. “M’sister’s turn this year, y’see.”

“Ah.” J’onn’s smile was knowing and warm. He looked down the hill, where the omegas had just started to congregate around the breakfast tables laid out for them. There was a slender figure moving there, murmuring condolences and well wishes to her fellows, dressed in organdy and lace. Kara caught J’onn following her eye and gave him a quick, surreptitious nod. His eyes crinkled. “Does the presence of the young Miss Olsen have anything to do with that?”

“ _ No _ .” Alex sputtered, weakly. “No! It’s just….” The elder Danvers alpha trailed off, a bit helplessly, looking in askance at Kara, who only shrugged.  _ She  _ certainly didn’t have any better excuse. “‘Tis a nice day for it, is all.” Alex finished lamely, toeing the dirt. 

“Yes.” J’onn, succinct as usual, had allowed his smile to settle into the corners of his mouth. “Well.” He clapped a hand on either of their shoulders. “See that you both enjoy this fine day. I will be at the starting marker. Until then,  _ adieu _ .”

They walked up the ridgeline, taking their time and conserving energy. There were alphas already grouping at the starting marker, but they were restless, and hungry. There was no breakfast for  _ them _ . Tradition held that a hunting alpha must have an empty stomach, to give added drive in the frenzy that was to come. 

Kara’s own belly rumbled and she was grateful that after Alex was off, she could go down and help herself to a jelly roll or two. No sense keeping herself starved. Kara hadn’t participated in a hunt in several years. 

Not since Lucy, anyway. 

That unpleasant memory was sufficiently far enough away in her mind, however. Lena Luthor would be at the breakfast with the other omegas who had come to see their fellows off. She had the sweetest eyes and kindest hands of anyone Kara knew, and the alpha was half in love with her already, only a few months into courting. Perhaps, next year or more, they’d be participating in the hunt for the sake of romantic tradition, and that would be just swell as could be. But not this year. The spark between them was too new. While Alex sweated and fought in the woods, Kara would be lobbing sly glances and flirtatious comments at Lena until she could sneak away to press her against one of the May poles for a stolen kiss. 

That was all the prize she required, this day. 

“Kara! Alex!” Nia Nal waved gaily, stepping away from a group of alphas. “I didn’t think you’d come!”

“Nia!” Kara embraced her warmly. “What are you doing here?”

“You  _ know _ betas are allowed to mingle with the competitors before the start.” Nia reminded her, somewhat impatiently. “I brought Brainy and we’re sizing up the best bet options.” 

She waved to her man, Querl Dox, who gave a quick nod in return and then went back to questioning an alpha with rapidfire precision. The alpha looked blanched and rather trapped, but Querl wasn’t moving. 

“You’re betting on me?” Alex asked, scandalized. 

“Not you, no.” Nia assured her. Before Alex’s face could lapse into relief, however, she had jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Everyone’s likeliest contender today is Morgan Edge.”

Alex swore violently. “Bugger that lily-livered bragabout. I’ll see him tripped in the weeds long before I make my move on Kelly.”

“Ah, so it  _ is _ Kelly Olsen you’re after!” Nia trilled, triumphantly, and Alex flushed a dark shade. “Good, maybe now you’ll stop leaning her way every afternoon in the pub. I’ve had enough of tripping over your mooning eyes.”

Kara let out a bark of laugh before she could stop herself. At Alex’s wounded expression, she shrugged. “What? ‘Tis true.”

“No more than you’re a mooncalf over Lena Luthor.” Alex retorted, and Kara had to wince. 

“Am not.” She protested weakly. “We’re friends, is all.”

“Friends. Sure.” Alex snorted. “And do you kiss all of your friends against the barn after Sunday mass?”

Kara felt her skin go white. She rounded on her sister and jabbed her quickly in the gullet, even as Alex wheezed out a laugh. “I told you that in  _ confidence _ .”

“You love her! You said her skin looked like moonlight!” Alex was dancing like a loon, laughing and evading Kara’s frantic punches. “Too bad Lena Luthor isn’t afield today or you’d be the one with your stomach in knots over proper wooing etiquette, little sister.”

Kara couldn’t help but grin in acknowledgment of that, given her earlier thoughts, but Nia was strangely silent. Normally she’d be whooping it up to revel in Kara’s embarrassment, but here she was pale and gulping beside the two alphas, looking almost sick. 

Kara frowned. “Nia? What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“You haven’t heard then.” Nia swallowed and looked over Kara’s shoulder, down the field to the omega starting marker, under the swaths of ribbons that had begun to dance in the morning breeze. 

Kara frowned. “Heard what?”

Nia dropped her voice, moving closer. “Lex Luthor’s finally drained the well dry. He brought Lena here this morning and word’s spread that he’s put her name on the county’s ledger book as his debt payment.”

Kara felt the blood drain from her ears and suddenly the world was thin and dizzy. Alex spoke for her. “No. He couldn’t.” 

“Oh but he has.” Morgan Edge was still close enough to overhear their conversation and had decided to relay his input, as usual. He showed his teeth, fine and white against his lower lip, and looked positively thrilled to deliver the news. 

“She’s up for grabs this morning, same as any common omega. I heard the town paid him double to give her a red cloak, ‘stead of green, so she’ll be easier to spot.” He grinned wide and sly. “Whosoever mates her gets half the Luthor fortune. And that highborn breeding mare, to boot, though it  _ is _ too bad she’s got such an ill-temper on her. She’ll take some  _ breaking in _ , I expect, but lucky I’m just the alpha for the job.” 

Kara wanted to hit him. She almost did. Her arm swung half forward, but Nia caught her by the wrist. 

“ _ Don’t _ . “ She whispered, fiercely. “He’s trying to bait you.”

“Oh, don’t get so red-collared, little Danvers.” Edge looked delighted to have riled her. “The beta is right, but I don’t truly care what bait you rise to. I won’t be playing you out today. Instead, I intend to be fucking your pretty little  _ friend _ into the dirt by mid-morning, and Lord of Luthor Manor by the afternoon.” 

He laughed. “I think the first thing I’ll buy for my new wife will be a scold’s bridle. After all, I have no use for her words, only her  _ mouth _ .”

Kara was trembling with rage. Her vision had gone red and spotty, and only Nia’s tiny hand at her wrist kept her at bay. Her mind was filled with fantasies of ripping Edge’s sneering head right off his broad shoulders and playing kick-at-can with it all the way back down to Main Street. 

“Get out of here, Lord Dunghill.” Alex spat, eyes flaring with vitriol.. “I don’t care what you  _ intend _ for the afternoon, but you’ll see the back of mine sister’s boot before day’s out, I can promise you that.” 

“Always a pleasure, Danvers.” Edge gave a mocking little bow. 

He brushed deliberately into Kara as he passed, though, shoulder-checking her into Alex, who stumbled and went down. They sprawled in a tangle of legs and limbs as Edge laughed, delighted at his doings, and sauntered away before he could be caught by a proctor. 

“That  _ ass _ .” Nia gasped, helping Kara to her feet. “Oh, your clothes are all muddy now! Here, let me—“

“No need, Nia.” Kara brushed her hand aside. “I’ll be getting muddy soon enough anyway.” She turned to Alex, and pulled her groaning sister upright.

“Kara, what do you mean?”

But Kara wasn’t listening. Her eyes were still scanning down the hill, where Kelly Olsen and the other omegas were still milling around the tables. At the edge of the group, she’d seen a flash of red. 

_ There.  _

On the outskirts of the ribbon shelter, clean-shorn, well-shod Lex Luthor had a hand on his sister’s wrist and was speaking to her roughly—Kara could tell without hearing his words. His grip on her pale arm was hard, and he would yank her to and fro whenever she would shake her head, imperiously drawing her closer. 

Lena stood out against the morning, as she always would to Kara’s eye, but more so in that she was emblazoned in red. The traditional omega cloak she wore over her thin white dress was red, instead of the classic forest green, and, with a sinking feeling in her gut, Kara observed that many alphas had already noticed the bright distinctive color. 

Of course, everyone always paid attention to Lena anyway. Eyes followed her like a wave around town. Kara had never much minded before, but now, to see the way interest had spread among the eyes on the hill—it made her stomach clench in something like anger. 

Down below, Lena wrenched away from Lex. She pointed back to the horsecart that he had come in, and spoke sharply to him, spitting into his face, and Kara’s heart leapt for her. But Lex wasn’t to be swayed by such womanly emotion. He ignored that, and slapped her  _ hard _ across her cheek. Once. Twice. Three times. 

Until Lena crumpled, hand to her face, and he dragged her back into the group by her upper arm. 

Every bone in Kara’s body howled in rebellion. Her fists clenched. “I’m going down there.”

“Kara,  _ no _ .” Nia grabbed at her arm, and Alex the other one, and together they pulled until Kara stopped stepping down the hill. “ _ Think _ , for a moment, you pigeon brain.”

“He slapped her.” Kara told Nia’s desperately frustrated expression, blinking slowly. “I’m going to kill him.” 

Alex groaned, behind her, and Nia let out something akin to a small wail. “You can’t, you  _ idjit _ . You’d be grabbed by the guards the second you stepped foot off this hill, and thrown into jail for the night with all the other alphas who can’t control themselves until the starting horn.” 

Nia tugged on her sleeve, blowing out air. “Don’t you see? And then  _ Edge _ is free to do what he wants, Kara. And  _ Lex _ gets what he wants, too.”

“Lex is probably the one betting high on Edge, driving the numbers up.” Alex spoke aloud, but her eyes were miles away. Her face contorted in a thin frown. “If he takes the pot after Edge takes Lena, he stands to make half his fortune back in one fell swoop. And Edge is a loyal stooge. He’d use Lena’s dowry fortune for Lex’s means, no problem at all.”

“Participation in the hunt is supposed to be  _ voluntary _ .” Kara said, somewhat helplessly. But Alex just shook her head, slow and remorseful, and Nia smiled, sadly. 

“Antiquated laws are still laws, love. Lex is Lena’s legal alpha guardian after Lionel died last year. He’s allowed to compel her to obey. Even in this.”

“Some hunts are  _ all _ involuntary, in other towns and villages.” Alex intoned. “I think we all like to pretend this is a quaint little tradition, but in many ways it’s a societally condoned—“

“Alex,  _ please _ , not now.”

Once again, Kara wasn’t listening. “Where’s J’onn gone to?” She asked, straightening and looking around. 

“Why would you need—oh, Kara, you  _ can’t _ .” Alex groaned. 

“Why can’t she?” Nia asked, seriously. “Late entrants are allowed. She just has to get the proctor’s approval. And J’onn’s likely to let her slide by.”

“Yes, but we haven’t the coin!” Alex hissed. “Neither of us brought a purse. The path to the starting marker in the morn is usually rife with cutthroats, and neither of us fancied being a likely target.”

“I’ll worry about the coin later.” Kara said, single-minded. Her eyes perked up when she saw a familiar shape moving between two snarling alphas on the near side of the ridge. “J’onn!”

She jogged over to his side, ignoring Alex’s yell of dismay, and did a quick, brisk business of whispered words. It only took a few minutes. He whipped out a small black ledger, and she signed her name. Then he nodded, clapped her on the back and it was done. 

Alex was open-mouthed when she returned. “Tell me you didn’t.”

Nia had been watching with interest. “What didn’t she do?”

“Signed her name in the bloody ledger.” Alex groaned, clapping her hand over her head. “My god, Kara, as if we haven’t  _ enough _ debts.”

“This one’s only mine. And I’ll pay him soon enough, don’t worry.” Kara told her sister. “I  _ have _ to save Lena, you know I do.”

Alex sighed, and her face softened. “Yes. I know.” She lifted her eyes. “I’ll help you. Maybe keep a few alphas off your back. Then you can get her out of the woods and to safety before the second horn. That Edge won’t know what hit him.”

It was a kind offer, and only a fool wouldn’t take it. Every alpha in the village would soon be teeming down this hill, slavering after that red hood and the prize contained beneath. But Kara shook her head, slowly. “No. You go after your Kelly. Make yourself a fine match. I’ve got to do this on my own.”

“Kara, don’t be daft—“

The horn sounded across the field, long and low, the blasts vibrating in Kara’s lower belly. 

“Alphas, to the marker, please.” J’onn was calling, and the proctors on the other side echoed him. “Alphas, take your mark now, please.” 

Nia could only spare them each a quick, meaningful glance each before she had to dart away. Querl beckoned her anxiously from the sidelines, and the two betas blended into the departing crowd of well-wishers. Around them, alphas were beginning to wave goodbye to friends and family, and turn toward the crest of the hill, under the starting banner that furled in waves of bright blue over the ridge. The crowd jostled them, and Alex could only give her a quick, one-armed hug, before they were driven apart by the force of the crowd and drawn into position with the rest. 

J’onn’s voice rolled out over the hill, intoning beautifully with the fog receding from the morning. 

“Blessed are we all who gather on this day to take part in the ancient rites of spring. Blessed are the hunters, and the hunted. Blessed is the fruit of their union, and the creation of new life, which blesses our humble village. Let the hunt be joyous, let our hearts be light.”

Kara swallowed thickly. The rest of the opening psalm was lost to her ears, distracted as she was. She tried to peer over the heads of the alphas to look down the hill, and she could see the line of hooded omegas like a wavering forest of green.  _ There _ . A brilliant red dot, like a cardinal’s wing. The hood shifted down for a second, and Kara saw Lena cast a despairing glance up at the hill, before a proctor hustled over to her and she drew her hood up once more. 

Kara wished fervently that she could speak to her.  _ Lena. Don’t worry. I won’t let him hurt you. I’m going to get you out of here. We can figure out the rest...your brother...later, when you’re safe.  _ She could almost see herself saying the words to Lena, perhaps at the forest’s edge. Her shoulders squared. 

Her eyes roamed around the crowd of impatient, chafing alphas and found Edge. He’d either jostled or paid his way into a position close to the front, far out ahead of Kara. As she watched under a furrowed brow, his eyes found hers and he gave her a trademark oily smile, before turning back down to the hill. Kara knew exactly what he was looking at. Or rather,  _ who _ . 

_ You won’t touch a hair on her head.  _ Kara promised him, silently, leveling her gaze until it was steel.  _ Not while I draw breath.  _

“Lastly,” J’onn’s voice brought her back to the moment. “Remember, alphas. True union is given, not stolen. To join with your beloved in the green of spring is a gift not all of you may receive this year. Do not seek to blaspheme in this holy forest by taking something not meant for you.”

Edge wasn’t even listening, Kara could see. He was whispering to his valet, who laughed loudly. Kara’s hands clenched into fists. J’onn stepped down from the podium, and the ribbon was lowered, and everything in Kara’s body yearned forward. 

_ Get to Lena. Get her out. Get to Lena. Get her out.  _

But then the final horn sounded and everything erupted into movement. 

Kara was running. Almost falling. Caught up in the crowd, she panted and churned her legs, fully aware that if she fell now, she’d tumble all the way to the bottom and be crushed under a stampede of frantic, pounding feet. She couldn’t see Edge anymore, or Lena. Just rows and rows of alpha backs, and the spatters of mud in her eyes. 

It was chaos. Grunting, mud-strewn chaos. 

Kara pushed and shoved, trying to break out from the pack, and managed to elbow herself free, breaking out in tumbling strides away from the main swarming blockade of running alphas. She sprinted down across the valley, taking in lungfuls of air, and chanced a look around. The green hoods were scattering everywhere into the forest line, disappearing among the trees, and for a brief, panicky moment, she couldn’t see the red hood, until— _ there.  _ Kara put on a burst of speed, as she saw a pack of alphas take off ahead of her, whooping and howling. They were following something. 

_ Lena _ . The omega was alone and running full-out, with the cape fluttering behind her like a bloody flag. She couldn’t maintain that speed in the constricted ground of the forest. But, from the sides of the woods, Kara could already see another pack preparing to converge on her, like a pincer. 

Determined, the alpha put her head down and  _ ran.  _

As soon as she entered the woods, she ran right into the pack. Stupid, rookie mistake. Lena was already gone, running deeper into the woods, and the alphas were surrounding Kara, keeping her from keeping close pursuit. It was Edge’s valet, of course. He and six or so alpha underlings he’d assembled, all snarling right at her face, laid in wait. He’d baited her out. 

It was all she could do to growl before they were on her and she was in the thick of it. 

Kara’s sleeves were torn right from her overcoat, and her shirt was ripped at the waist. She ducked and weaved, and landed a punch as often as she could, but she was getting quickly overcome. Six on one was hardly fair odds, and definitely against hunt rules, but no one was playing fair now. They were either being paid or Edge had convinced them they could share his riches. Either way, didn’t matter. 

Kara had a cut above her eye that was gouting blood and she couldn’t see very well, but she was still game as a fight dog, head down and punching out, when something came barreling in from the left. At first, she thought it was more alphas, and stiffened, preparing to be swamped, but then she heard a familiar whoop and her shoulders eased. “Alex?”

“Stay keen, little sister, there’s one on your right—- _ good _ , nice jab, now take his knee.” Alex instructed, puffing in her ear. Kara followed suit, squinting through the blood in her vision. “Good. See, I told you you needed help but you prefer to go off half-cocked and—to your left now, Kara,  _ there’s _ a bub.”

Together, the Danvers sisters made short work of the pack, working as a grim, determined unit, until there was just the lackey, scrabbling in the mud, trying to get to his feet with frantic clumsiness, as Kara stalked forward. 

“Kara, no.” Alex touched her side, and she looked down, confused. “Let me handle this. You go.” Alex favored her with a brief, genuine smile. “Get your girl.”

“You get yours, too.” Kara told her, but Alex was already advancing past her, moving on Edge’s valet with a glint in her eye that made Kara shudder. 

And then she was alone, moving as fast as she could through the woods, with no more than a general direction of where she saw Lena last. 

The woods were deep, and wide. The rampant crowd had thinned at the edges, and then nearly disappeared. Kara only saw flashes of others running here and there. She could hear laughter in the distance, sometimes. Cooing, moaning sounds of coupling. Some growing and snarling as alphas fought over a prospective mate. 

But the trees muffled everything. They even blotted out the sky. Everything was thin and grey in the light, and there seemed to be no end. Even the air seemed hot and stifling. 

The woods could cause panic. Kara knew. She’d had to be hauled out her last hunt, Alex finding her curled up in the woods at dusk, panting and sobbing as visions of her dead parents danced before her eyes. That had been her first  _ and _ last hunt. When she tried to impress Lucy and ended up failing miserably. 

She could fail again, now. 

_ No _ . 

She gritted her teeth, and closed her eyes, trying to shut out the uneasy silence that seemed to thud in her ears. She focused on her breathing, like Alex had taught her, one breath at a time. Eventually, the unpleasant quiet seemed to lessen, and a small breeze drifted in from the north, wandering among the trees. Kara took a deep, replenishing lungful of air, and felt cleaner, more at ease. She wiped the drying blood from her eyebrows and opened her eyes, looking around. 

Then, she heard it. A sharp, pained noise, followed by Lena’s voice, clear as a bell. 

“Let go of me!”

_ Lena _ . 

Kara was off like a shot, mind following pure instinct toward the sound of the omega’s voice. She leapt over fallen logs and mossy hummocks, feet hardly seeming to touch the ground. All of the tangles and brambles that had defied her feet during her hunt years ago seemed nowhere to be found, and Kara fairly flew through the forest, feet light and senses narrowed to following the sound. 

In no time at all, she came upon a huge fallen tree, its roots leaning up to the sky, and followed the tangle, climbing up to get a better view. Right there, under the scrape of land caused by their passage, Lena was sprawled, her cape collecting leaves, one boot off, with Morgan Edge’s muddy fingers wrapped around her pale ankle. She was scrabbling away, breath coming in frantic pants, and he was pulling her down, unbuttoning his pants. 

“Hold  _ still _ .” He was hissing through his teeth, as he grabbed Lena higher on her thigh. Her other leg kicked out, but he grabbed that too. Edge’s face was flushed, sweaty and his mouth open, but he looked triumphant as he moved to climb over her prone, struggling body. 

Kara saw red. She jumped down. 

She landed fully on Edge’s back. He hadn’t been expecting company, clearly, so he howled out in surprise as she wrapped an arm around his throat and drove him into the mud. His arm thrashed and pulled at her hair, yanking painfully at her skull, but she bore the snap of pain with a grit of her teeth. 

“Kara!” Lena’s surprised cry had her looking up, momentarily, and she locked eyes with the omega, trying to convey both  _ don’t worry  _ and  _ I’m here to help _ but neither was just as likely. 

Edge took advantage of her sudden stillness and bucked free of her stranglehold, tossing her to the side. He growled in rage, and continued his advance on Lena, even as she struggled to get to her feet. Kara pushed herself up and launched forward, tackling him in the midsection. They both went down in an inelegant tumble, but it worked. Edge’s head slammed into a rock that had been unearthed on the side of the tangle of roots, and he howled in pain, blood gushing freely from the cut on his forehead. 

_ There,  _ Kara thought grimly.  _ Now we’re even.  _ Then, she put her boot to his neck and pressed down, keeping him trapped between her and the stone. “Yield, Edge.”

“Fuck you, you ball-less bitch, I’ll never—“

Lena appeared on the bloody edge of Kara’s vision. She was holding a  _ very _ large rock—more of a small boulder, really—and her hands were trembling, but she looked down at Edge like she wanted to smash him out of existence and hefted the rock above his skull. “ _ Yield _ , you bastard.” 

For a moment, Kara thought he might do it. His handsome face was streaked with mud and blood, so she couldn’t see his expression, but he was still. As if considering. Then, he spat blood and smiled up at Lena, looking her up and down with obscene slowness. 

“The only thing that’ll be yielding is your cunt when I breed you tonight, wh—“

Kara took hold of Edge’s scalp and smashed his face back into the rock. His eyes rolled up white, and his body slackened. She dropped him and he rolled, limp, to the bottom of the hollow. Only the faint rise and fall of his back told Kara she hadn’t killed him, and she was only partly relieved. Murder during the hunt wasn’t unheard of, but it was definitely not  _ legal _ . 

Maiming, on the other hand...well, that was all in a good May Day’s sport. 

She turned from Edge’s crumpled body to Lena, who was still clutching her rock, looking pale and breathing hard. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Lena shook her head, still breathing. Her eyes didn’t leave Kara. They were wide and dark and completely unreadable. Kara thought she might be in shock. She stood, slowly, extending her palms. “Lena, it’s gonna be okay. I can get you out of here. I promise, I won’t—“

Lena let out a tiny strangled noise. She dropped her rock, stepped over it and pressed her lips to Kara’s. 

At first, Kara was too in shock to move. The last time they’d kissed, she’d been the one to make the first move. Lena had been standing by the barn, looking  _ so so pretty  _ under the rising spring moon, and she’d tilted her head up and smiled just so...Kara had leaned down to kiss her, and it was sweet. Sweet enough to carry her all the way home as she walked under that same moon, heart full and wondering. 

This wasn’t sweet. There was blood on Lena’s lips and on her hands and an unconscious body ten feet away. She was bruised and hurt. She shouldn’t be kissing. She should be shepherding Lena to safety. 

But something in her moved with hunger to feel the omega press hot against her body, and she opened to the kiss, letting her tongue lick into the red heat of Lena’s mouth. Lena moaned welcomingly into her lips and slid her hand down Kara’s arm with her thumb resting on the inside, just touching the sensitive skin of her inner arm. In seconds Kara was startlingly—almost painfully—aroused. 

“You saved me.” Lena’s whisper was silk on her lower lip, spilling down her jaw as the omega followed it, peppering the skin there with kisses as Kara’s throat flexed and bobbed. 

“Lena—“ Kara’s voice was a thin whine. She cleared her throat and tried again. “M’so sorry. I came as fast as I could.” 

“What are you even doing here?” Lena seemed mystified by her very presence, holding Kara’s lapels and looking into her eyes like she’d conjured a ghost from thin air. “When my brother took me this morning, I thought I’d never see you again.”

“I came to escort Alex. She’s courting Kelly Olsen and decided to make the run this year.” Kara tossed a thumb over her shoulder as if Alex was still behind her. She swallowed. “‘Twas on the hill with her when I saw Lex bring you in, so I put my name in the ledger.” 

She decided to make no mention of Edge’s taunts. Lena didn’t need to hear any of that filth, anyhow, and it didn’t seem that the omega was in the mood to listen, either. Her throat bobbed, as Lena’s fingers tightened in her lapel, and brought her closer, eyes locked into Kara’s like a seeking spell. 

The scent of pheromones were thick in the air. The hunt had brought Kara’s blood up and thumping in her ears, and with it her musk—heavy and potent, rolling off in waves after the fight. Lena’s omega perfume was responding in kind, with winding, tantalizing trails of scent that told Kara that she was  _ ready, waiting, eager _ . Lena’s lips parted again, and her tongue swept over them. Pink, soft, wet. 

Kara swallowed, hard. 

“We...should probably try to get you to safety. More alphas will be coming.”

“Why?” Lena’s lips were moving down. The words were murmured into the hollow of her throat. Her fingers were already undoing the buttons of Kara’s filthy shirt, one by one. “With  _ my _ alpha here to protect me, I’m in no danger anymore.”

“Your alpha—“ Kara started, and then stopped, thunderstruck. She let out a pitiful whine of sheer desire before she choked it off, hastily. “That can’t be me.”

“Why not?” Lena’s lips at her collarbone were insistent, stroking the fire in her belly and below. “This is how tradition works, does it not? It’s the rites of spring. The conquest. And you won the fight,  _ alpha _ .”

“Because you deserve someone better.” Kara tried, voice wavering in the muffled forest air. “Someone more suited to your...to your standing.”

“My standing?” Lena snorted. She stepped back for a moment and gestured to Edge, laying limp in he dirt. “There is only one alpha of my  _ standing _ here, and there he lies. Are you suggesting I mate with him?”

“ _ No! _ ” Kara sputtered. Her brain was racing for something with more proprietary grace, something worthy of the gallantry she’d read about in penny novels, but her pants were already tightening, betraying the ounce of nobility she was scrabbling for. “But—but I only meant to keep you safe, Lena, I didn’t expect—I wasn’t trying to—-“ 

“Yes.” Lena grasped her fondly by the lapel again, and brushed dried blood from her cheek with one cool, soft palm. “And that is why you, and only you, deserve every ounce of my reward. Let me give it to you.” 

She softened against Kara’s body, mouthing at the underside of her jaw. “ _ Please _ , Kara. I  _ want _ to. I always have.”

Kara capitulated instantly. The pheromones surrounding her were calling, begging for Kara’s touch, and something inside her snapped at Lena’s words. She felt like a tether had come loose. She tried not to show in her face, but judging by the way the omega smiled triumphant as a cat, she’d probably lost that battle. Oh well. 

“Your brother won’t like this.” Kara said, finally, as if admitting defeat. 

Lena pressed her lips to Kara’s ear, her breath damp and sweet. Her fingers were dancing along the hem of Kara’s torn shirt, lifting it from her pants. The fabric slithered across her skin like a whisper. “ _ Good _ .”

There were probably better alphas who could have resisted the siren call in those shifting grey-green eyes. Alphas of nobility and restraint. Kara wasn’t one of them. 

She put her hands under the backs of Lena’s thighs and carried her, kissing her all the while, away from the tree roots. She didn’t want Edge to wake and witness their coupling while she was preoccupied. Her brain was mired in possessive instinct, and the bright flame of her love was the only constant. She followed it like a North Star. 

With one squinted eye, she found a mossy flat-ish piece of ground that seemed soft enough, and laid Lena down on it, unwilling or unable to stop kissing her. It was a tonic of sweet lips, swallowed soft sighs, and quick darts of wet tongue. Kara couldn’t get enough of it. She pressed her hips down into the omega and savored the way Lena’s breath shortened and her gasps breathed into Kara’s lips. 

They kissed for a time. Probably longer than most alphas would, but Kara was marshaling her reserves. Truth be had, she was nervous. She’d been picturing Lena under her like this in her bed every night since they’d met at the county social, all those months ago, but the reality was far more appealing than she’d ever dreamed, and Kara was overcome. Overwhelmed. Lena’s breath was so sweet, and her lips so damp and eager, her hands finding Kara’s shoulders—or her spine, or her  _ hips _ —and pulling at her, trying to get closer. It was almost frantic, the way Lena was touching Kara’s body. Like she’d thought about this too. 

Like she’d thought about it for as long as Kara had, maybe. 

Everything felt dangerously on fire in her lower regions, but Kara couldn’t help grinding herself down between Lena’s crooked knees, splayed open in welcome. She licked into Lena’s mouth and savored the sigh the omega released onto her tongue. The grass below them was dewy, but the moss was pillow-y soft, and seemed to cushion Lena when Kara pressed into her. As if the ground wanted to hold her, too. 

“Have you done this before?” Kara gasped out, as Lena arched to lay hot, branding kisses along her neck. She thought she mostly knew the answer, but it didn’t hurt to ask. 

“Yes.” Lena confirmed, stroking a piece of Kara’s hair behind her ear. “With Jack Spheer, four years ago.”

The knowledge wasn’t new to Kara, and yet it twinged somewhere deep inside her. She tried not to let her jealousy show on her face, but it probably slipped out. “Oh.”

“It wasn’t like this.” Lena told her, softly, keeping eye contact like a steady lighthouse beam, guiding Kara back to shore from her worrisome thoughts. “This is different.”

“How is this different?”

“Because I didn’t want to let Jack bite me.” Lena explained, simply, and Kara’s heart nearly thudded out of her chest to the forest floor. 

“Oh.” Her mouth was dry. She wet her lips, and Lena grinned. “Does that mean….?”

“Yes, Kara.” Lena stroked her face, curling around her palm. “I would have asked you to the hunt myself this year if Lex hadn’t intervened. As it happens, this just aligns well with my plans. Does that suit you?” 

“Oh. Yes.” Kara nodded, dumbstruck, and Lena laughed. It was a brilliant, beautiful sound. 

“Good. Because I do love you, you know.” The omega’s eyes were suddenly serious, glistening in the dappled light. “Do you love me?”

“Oh  _ Lena _ .” Kara closed her eyes. Dropped her nose to the omega’s pulse. “I love you so  _ much _ I can hardly stand it.” 

They kissed then, again. It went on for a long time. Long enough that Kara’s hips started moving again, instinctually pushing downwards, and Lena broke off to gasp, quietly, digging her nails into Kara’s hipbone. 

“Have you?” The omega asked, voice quavering in a way that Kara found fiendishly gratifying. “Done this before, I mean?” 

“No.” Kara shook her head. She wasn’t ashamed, but her heart did feel a bit heavier when she spoke. “I tried….years ago, with Lucy Lane, but the pressure was too much. I had a panic attack in the woods. She said I was a foolish child and left that day with James Olsen.” 

The memory stung, but not perhaps as much as it had previously. Especially with the way Lena was biting her lip and looking back at her, eyes rounded in sympathy. Her free hand curled around Kara’s cheek, and the alpha kissed at her thumb. 

“You’re not a foolish child, Kara.” Lena told her, quietly, seriously. 

“Well. Not anymore, anyway.” Kara grinned. “But I am a fool for you.”

Lena rolled her eyes, but her smile was warm. Familiar. Kara’s heart swelled. This was to be her  _ mate.  _ She would leave this day with Lena Luthor, and let all the Lucy Lanes of the world be damned. She leaned down to kiss the omega, and did so thoroughly enough that Lena was panting, eyes slightly glazed, when she pulled away. 

“Let me show you.” Lena murmured, and her hand slipped around Kara’s hipbone, grazing the bulge in her twill pants. “Will you let me help?”

Kara was nodding even before Lena’s fingers brushed against the fabric-covered tent of her erection. 

Even though the morning was still unseasonably chill, clothing rapidly seemed unnecessary. Lena helped Kara shuck herself free of her shirt and overcoat, kissing down her throat as she pushed them away, and her slender fingers made short work of Kara’s belt, letting the leather slither through her fingers like a snake. Her lips dropped, and she began to lay hot, searing kisses across Kara’s nipples, cupping her small breasts and nipping at the undersides with her sharp, lovely teeth. 

Kara, not to be outdone, was working at Lena’s thin dress in between shudders of pleasure. One of the straps had torn away in the omega’s struggle against Edge’s advances, and Kara made short work of the other, enjoying how easily the fabric gave way to her impatient fingers. She pulled, and Lena was left bare but for her cloak, still fastened around her shoulders, wiggling under Kara and keening for her touch. 

“God—“ Kara choked out. If she was overcome before, now she was  _ decimated _ . Destroyed utterly. 

Lena lay half sprawled on her elbows with the red cloak framing her silky-pale skin like a sinful halo. The rise of her breasts was sloped, pear-like, and her nipples were dusty-pink, like ripe fruit. Her belly heaved with her breath, and her thighs twitched, tensing as Kara stared. The thatch of hair between her legs curled darkly mysterious and glistening with desire. Kara couldn’t look away from it. Lena, catching the direction of her gaze, shifted a bit, and her thighs parted further, letting Kara catch the barest glimpse and—- _ oh _ . 

All Kara could see was  _ wet, split, pink.  _

She didn’t think. She had no experience to guide her, but lust was a simple enough master. Kara gave in, and, groaning, fell forward with her face buried in Lena’s cunt. 

“ _ Oh _ Kara, you—!” Lena cried out, arching into her mouth, but Kara barely heard her, or felt the sudden grasp of the omega’s nails on her scalp. She was lost in a heavenly world of slick heat and fluttering muscle. 

_ God _ , it was good. Lena tasted like something distinctly  _ wild _ , sweet and musky with thick desire. Kara’s tongue was flat and searching everywhere, tasting every inch she could reach, but when she skimmed the upper surface, there was a sweet rigid little bump that made Lena shudder when she touched it, so she focused on that, letting her tongue become an arrow battering the target. Lena reacted immediately, surging her hips up, and her cry of surprise and pleasure sent heat directly between Kara’s legs. With one hand, she held Lena’s jumping pelvis in place for her eager mouth, and with the other, she cupped herself, lightly, to alleviate some of the pressure. 

“What are you— _ Kara!” _ Lena seemed torn between shock and abject pleasure, and quickly gave over to the latter. “God,  _ yes _ , please keep doing that,  _ please _ , I—“

Kara didn’t want to stop, so that wasn’t objectionable in the least. She worked her tongue slowly, and then, urged on by the desperate rocking of the omega’s hips and her frantically grasping hands—faster and faster. She quickly found a strumming, flickering rhythm that seemed to suit Lena just as well as it did her, and groaned into the omega’s sweet cunt as her cock pressed against her cupping palm, aching with need. 

When Lena came, it was with a sudden intake of breath, and a fierce, lovely arch of her spine. It was almost silent, and so prolonged that it didn’t seem to have a start or end, at least for a long while. Kara didn’t understand what had happened, at first, and kept right on going, until Lena gave a soft little noise and pushed at her shoulder. “Enough, please.”

When she withdrew, panting and covered in her slick efforts, Lena crooked a finger at her and dragged her up to lay onto the omega’s warm, gently shuddering body. Kara tried to hold herself up, aware of how heavy she was, but Lena only tugged her closer, crushing their tangled limbs into the cloak and the moss below. She sighed, and it was a pleasant, satisfied sound. “Where did you learn  _ that _ ?”

“Nowhere.” Kara admitted, truthfully, and nosed into Lena’s pulse. “I just wanted to taste you. You seemed to enjoy it.”

“I did.” Lena stroked her hair, fondly, but her other hand was roaming. Kara took in a sharp breath as lithe, long fingers danced across her inseam. “You’re still wearing your trousers.”

“Didn’t seem pertinent, i-in the moment.” Kara let out a slow breath as Lena palmed her, bold as brass, stroking her length through the heavy twill. She jerked forward, unconsciously. “Don’t do that. I’ll make a mess.”

“Then you should take them  _ off _ .” Lena enunciated hotly to the skin just below Kara’s ear. Her breath was damp and prickling all the hairs there. “Or I will.”

True to threat, her fingers were already slipping the button loose, dexterous as ever, and Kara caged her hands with a laugh and a kiss, and set about finishing what Lena had started as her lips went to work on the omega’s smirking mouth. Soon, she had her trousers around her ankles, and was tripping over her boots trying to shuck them free, as Lena brazenly explored her through the slit in her cotton underwear, cupping, grasping, and—more dangerous— _ stroking _ . The backs of Lena’s nails skittered along the vein just below the coronal ridge, and Kara almost tripped to her face in the moss in her hurry to take the omega’s hands away and wriggle free of her underwear. She pushed Lena back down to the moss and roughly flicked away the fastenings for the cape, leaving it spread beneath her like a declaratory flag. 

Then, they were just two naked writhing creatures in the wood, kissing and moaning and touching. Lena’s dark hair was spread against the cape’s red lining and when she tossed her head, rolling under Kara’s exploratory fingers, her hair shook with little droplets of morning dew. She was exquisite, unparalleled—and  _ greedy _ . Her hands weren’t idle while Kara delved between her legs—no, not Lena. Kara’s cock was trapped between her belly and the alpha’s abdominal muscles, and she had slipped her hand in there too, rolling her fingers against the head, urging it to leak more and more onto the warm, plush skin below. 

“ _ L-Lena _ .” Kara warned, groaning into the omega’s pulse, where her lips already panted to place a bite. 

But Lena ignored her and kept up a gliding steady tease with her fingers rolling over and under the sensitive ridge of the head, and Kara’s whole body was tensed with the pleasure of it. She was sure she was going to come right there and make a mess of Lena and a fool of herself all in one go. Kara bit down on her lip and closed her eyes, curling her toes against the onslaught of relentless pressure threatening to spill. 

“It’s okay.” Lena’s raspy whisper against her cheek brought her back to her body. “I  _ want _ it, darling. Do it now, on my belly, so you can last long enough to fill me later.”

_ God.  _

If Kara wasn’t going to come already, those words undid any chance of staving it off. As it was, she was already panting and whining and pushing her hips into Lena’s warm hand before the omega had finished her sentence. It only took a soft squeeze of Lena’s fingers around the tip, and she was coming, whimpering as her release spilled, as promised, right onto Lena’s soft, pale belly. The pearls of her pleasure gathered around the omega’s navel, and Kara shuddered to see how Lena smiled at it. 

“That’s it, my love.” Lena cooed, working her through the shuddering pulses with her hand as much as her soothing, seductive voice. “Cover me in it.”

“ _ Lena _ .” Kara choked out, when words returned to her fuzzy consciousness. Her hips were still rolling, slowly, and although the aftershocks were slowly fading away, the pressure in her cock still felt as iron-hard as ever. She nuzzled into the omega’s neck, letting her lips find the sweet pulse there. “You’ll be the death of me.”

Lena only laughed, pretty and high, and Kara lifted her head to see it. When she did, she caught sight of some movement toward the edge of the clearing, and her eyes narrowed, finding the source. 

It was Jack Spheer. 

He was watching them couple on the cloak, with something like a sad smile on his face—Kara couldn’t quite make it out at a distance. She stiffened over Lena—even as the omega heedlessly arched below her and began to place kisses up her neck, ardent and naked as a goddess of the forest—and felt a warning growl rumble in her bones, but Jack wasn’t approaching any further. He clearly wasn’t here to challenge, and, as Lena’s lips traveled along her throat, Kara surmised a few things. 

Jack had not been with the others at the hill, she was sure of it. A late entrant to the hunt, like Kara. Perhaps he had only joined after hearing of Lena’s impending plight. It would be fitting with his character. Either way, it was clear now just who had won the omega’s attention, as well as her heart, and Jack didn’t seem to want to try to test that. It was a moment in time, suspended, as the alphas locked eyes. 

There was a deep, primal urge stirring in Kara’s bones. A  _ claiming _ urge. She leaned down and kissed Lena, deep and full, and prolonged it until the omega dropped back against the cloak, dizzied and sighing. A single minded purpose, not unlike the one that had driven her here in the first place, had taken hold of the alpha’s mind. Her hips dropped down, and with one hand, she clumsily fitted her cock to the omega’s entrance, earning a low moan of appreciation. Lena clung to her shoulders, spreading her thighs wide in invitation, and Kara drove forward, her cock sinking inside. 

The scent of possessive rutting pheromones was thick in the air, and Kara raised her head again, baring her teeth in a clear challenge as Lena cried out below her, rocking her hips for more. Jack’s eyes connected with hers, and something like appreciation flickered across his distant face. Then he was gone, slipping into the woods and respectfully backing away from Kara’s claimed space. It thrilled the primeval pulse pounding in Kara’s temples and she snarled, her hips connecting with Lena’s. 

She didn’t raise her head again. There was no more need. And Lena’s pulse was calling to her, singing a siren song that her lips couldn’t deny. She hitched the omega’s thighs over her hips, and let the rut drive her. 

The spring morning sun cut through the fog and warmed Kara’s bare back as she thrust. The mist was retreating across the forest floor and birds were singing. Far away across the meadow, Kara thought she could hear the bell ringing, calling the couples in for the midday supper. But none of that mattered. Nothing but Lena. 

“ _ God _ , fuck,  _ yes _ , do it like that!” Lena’s cries were lovely to hear. Always tinged with the hint of surprise. As if she couldn’t believe what her body was feeling. The pride of it drove Kara on like a lash. 

Her earlier climax had taken the peak of her pressure off, but she was still inexperienced, and the warm grip of Lena’s intoxicatingly wet cunt was drawing her in, inexorably. Before long, Kara felt the tension at her base begin to increase, and the pressure surged in her lower belly. 

“I’m going to…” she panted, forehead pressing into Lena’s in between kisses. “Can I…?”

Lena was already nodding before her second sentence, hand wrapping around the back of Kara’s neck as her hips rocked frantically to meet the increased, deepening pace. “Yes, yes  _ please _ knot me darling, fill me up, make me yours,  _ please— _ “

“ _ God _ .” Kara choked out, teeth rasping against Lena’s neck as her knot swelled hard against the omega’s slickly-grasping lips. “ _ Fuck _ . Mine. All mine.” 

Lena’s reply was an increased chorus of  _ yesyesyesohgodyes _ as Kara huffed, pushing forward. She wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, but the instincts goading her would only be satiated if she could get the knot  _ inside _ . So she did. Grunting and moaning, sinking her teeth into Lena’s neck to make her mark, she thrust one final time, and with a sobbing wail from Lena and a gush of slick fluid, they were joined. 

Instant, all-consuming pleasure. A flame, a bonfire. She was groaning, or perhaps growling, as she bit into Lena’s neck, deepening the hold, but the ferocity of her orgasm stunned her into almost-silence. Her hips stuttered, and Lena chose that moment to sear her own mark onto the alpha’s shoulder, just above her breast. Kara cried out then, and a stronger wave than the first knocked her into breathless, perfect oblivion. 

Lena’s walls closed around her knot, and her cock, milking the alpha for all she was worth—and then some—and Kara was helpless not to fill every inch with her spurting, effusive release. Lena shuddered under her, sobbed out her name, and Kara dimly registered the gripping, rippling muscles as they milked still-more of her come. It seemed like the climax was a shared, shivering thing, seizing back and forth between their bodies like a wave. She buried her face in Lena’s neck, right next to the darkening mark on her pulse and let her hips slowly grind the pleasure out into its lingering depths. 

Eventually, Lena’s lips dropped from her own mark, after a series of peppering, soft kisses to what Kara could only assume was a rapidly-purpling bruise. “My alpha.” She murmured, and Kara thought perhaps it was half to herself. “My dear, beloved alpha. My  _ Kara _ . I’m so glad it was you, in the end.”

Kara wordlessly tuned into those seeking lips, letting her mouth speak without a sound. Her hips churned slowly, testing the tie, and Lena closed her eyes, dropping back against the cloak. “Careful, love. We have a while yet.”

“When we’re clothed, I’m going to take you home for dinner.” Kara promised her mate, stroking away a few sweat-soaked tendrils of black hair. “And you and Eliza can coo over your new mark and I’ll start on making us a new marriage bed. There’s some fine walnut in the back acres.” 

“What about my brother?” Lena stroked the back of Kara’s neck with her nails. Her smile was knowing and soft. “Shouldn’t you go collect your new fortune?”

“ _ Fuck _ your brother and his blood money.” Kara told her, simply, and enjoyed the way Lena’s smile deepened. “We’ll make our own way. I know we will.”

“Yes.” Lena leaned up to kiss her mark, which throbbed in pleasant reaction to her touch. “I know we will.” 

The sun in the clearing deepened to a rich, full glow, and the shoots of tender new buds pushed their tentative way up to the surface through soft, unfrozen ground. It was going to be a glorious, bountiful spring. 

But neither Kara nor Lena noticed it at all. 

***

**Author's Note:**

> Bored at home? Follow the link in my [ Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/aspidities) for updates and prompts and gay bullshittery the likes of which you’ve never seen


End file.
